Three London‑based fund managers leave Cohen's SAC Capital

(Reuters) - Three portfolio managers who worked for Steven A. Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors in London have left the hedge fund, which is currently fighting criminal insider trading charges.

Alidod Shirinbekov, Woei Chan and Paul Crouch no longer work at Cohen's SAC Global Investors LLP unit, according to filings dated September 26 on the UK's Companies House website.

A spokesman for SAC declined to comment on the news, which was first reported by Bloomberg. The men could not be reached for comment. Crouch and Chan were quantitative portfolio managers, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

The website listed the men's appointments as being terminated but did not give details on why they left. Their departures came after review season.

Last month SAC offered retention bonuses to some staff for next year after the U.S. government charged the $14 billion firm with securities and wire fraud, prompting outside investors to pull nearly all of their capital. The firm has denied all wrongdoing.

The news comes one day after SAC energy portfolio manager Nick Tiller told colleagues he was retiring. In an email, Tiller said he is looking forward to spending more time with his family and wants to take a "real vacation" where he doesn't have to monitor and trade his portfolio by mobile phone all day long. A copy of the email was seen by Reuters.

He said he plans to devote time to his charity, Sustainable America. "Through Sustainable America I'll be working to help build more sustainable and less vulnerable food and energy systems after years of researching and profiting from those same sectors," Tiller wrote.

SAC let about a dozen marketing and sales people go as it became clear that it would not be attracting outside capital as it defends itself against the government charges. So far there has been no mass exodus on the investment side at the firm, which employs roughly 900 people and has been known for periodic turnover as analysts and portfolio managers leave the high-pressured firm after a few years.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston and Katya Wachtel in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Lisa Shumaker)